Like Father, like nun: Sister gets the best of biker priest in lesson of respect

DIXON – Two riders squared off Monday, eyes glued to the obstacle course before them in St. Anne Elementary School’s parking lot.

The Rev. Mike Morrissey’s hand, in a black biker glove, revved the engine of his black Harley-Davidson, while his feet, clad in black, flame-embellished sneakers, steadied his motorcycle.

He scowled and revved his engine again as he looked over to his opponent.

Sister Lorraine Pratt, 81, smiled. She waved.

Her scarf, covered in flames, danced around her neck. Her candy-apple red scooter gleamed. Paper flame cutouts, hand-colored by students and strung from her battery-powered chair, flew in the breeze.

Principal Marcianne Bzdon, acting as Morrissey’s weight handicap, gripped his shoulder. She doesn’t like motorcycles.

The match was Morrissey’s idea.

Pratt, the school’s eldest nun, was told in the spring to start using a scooter. She got her Jazzy Select GT Pride in April.

“I’ve joked with her about putting flames on it,” Morrissey, 51, said. “Well, that hadn’t happened. Yet.”

He challenged the sister last week to a series of races.

“She’s very competitive. Did she tell you about that ticket she got? Speeding.”

Pratt hadn’t pushed her scooter to its limit before. She wasn’t sure whether she would have to crank it up for the battle.

“All depends on what the race looks like,” she said. “It seems to me that I read it [tops out at] 14 miles an hour.”

She found out when the flag went down, and the riders were off.

They weaved in and out of orange cones. Pratt executed a sharp turn around the farthest one; Morrissey had to swing wide.

She came across the finish line ahead of him. He challenged her to another race. Then another. And another.

Time and again, her nimble scooter beat his cumbersome bike.

At last, Morrissey conceded. He awarded Pratt a trophy.

“She’s a model of a person who never says, ‘I can’t,’ who never says, ‘I quit,’” Morrissey said. “She always perseveres.”

The match was really a lesson, he said.

“We always treat everyone with respect, dignity. Even though Sister is in the use of a battery-powered chair, it doesn’t take away from her skill, her gift.”